1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system using a network, particularly to an information providing support system and method in which a client can easily provide information and a user can easily enjoy the information via electronic mail, and to a program and server for use in the system and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Advertising activities and various information services by various companies have heretofore been carried out, for example, by advertising posters hung in trains, advertisements on wrapping buses, business cards, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, and articles.
Therefore, when the user records or stores desired information described in these advertisements, it has been necessary to manually take notes or to use special apparatuses such as a copy machine, scanner, and digital camera.
Therefore, for example, even when the user sees interesting advertisements by chance outdoors, and unless the user carries memo pads or various apparatuses described above, it has been impossible to instantly record/store/edit the information described in the advertisements.
Moreover, in recent years, uniform resource locators (URL) of own web pages of the companies have been placed in various advertisements as described above in many cases.
In this case, the user uses a personal computer to access the web page of the company in which the user takes an interest via the Internet, and can accordingly obtain desired information placed in the advertisements or associated information.
However, from a standpoint of the client company, in order to open the own web page on the Internet, hypertext by hypertext markup language (HTML) and required images need to be stored on web servers such as an internet presence provider (IPP) by a file transfer protocol (FTP) tool, processing is complicated, there have also been many cases requiring contracts with the IPP beforehand, and this has been intricate.
Moreover, from a user's standpoint, on accessing the web page of the company in which the user takes an interest, only an HTML source is obtained. In a user's terminal, the received HTML source is analyzed with a browser and only displayed in a predetermined manner. Therefore, it has not been easy to store/edit/arrange obtained information.
On the other hand, in recent years, a cellular phone or a portable information terminal has generally been used to access the web page of the Internet in a place where the user has gone and to obtain the information. However, there have been restrictions on the information (web page) obtained in this case, and it has not been easy to store, edit, or arrange the obtained information as described above. Furthermore, since the capacity of the built-in memory is limited in the cellular phone, there has also been a limit to the amount of information capable of being stored. On the other hand, in order to provide the information to the user which is an object, it is also necessary for the client company to prepare the web page for exclusive use in the cellular phone, a burden is also large, and this has been intricate.
Here, taking notice of user's operability, a technique has also heretofore been developed for automatically converting a predetermined code into a URL, when the code is input instead of the URL in accessing the web page. However, in this technique, the user needs to install predetermined software in the own personal computer for use or to access a unique web page before accessing the desired web page, and eventually intricate operations have been involved.
As described above, the user hopes to obtain the desired information quickly with a simple operation in a form suitable for storing/editing/arranging the information, but there has not been any technique to realize this.
It is to be noted that, for example, in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-57066, a technique is disclosed for automatically deciphering a received question content and extracting corresponding data from a database to automatically return the data via electronic mail, when questions and answers concerning provided information content by product catalogs are returned via electronic mail.
However, in the publication, it is described that when the question content is assumed beforehand, the corresponding data can be returned via the electronic mail, but there is not any “concrete description” concerning a method for deciphering the received question content. The technique is intricate, because it is necessary to send the question content in sentences.
The present invention has been developed in consideration of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide the following convenience to a user and client, support an information providing service between the user and client, and simplify and smooth the service in an information providing support system and method in which a client terminal apparatus, user terminal apparatus, and server are connected to one another via a network for communication and in a program and server for use in the system and method.
That is, as a detailed object, a user only performs a simple operation with a user terminal apparatus (apparatus having a function of being capable of transmitting/receiving electronic mails) so that desired information on advertisements can quickly be obtained via the electronic mail in a form suitable for storing, editing, or arranging the information. A further object is that reception conditions of the electronic mail can appropriately be set, and accordingly, for example, the information on the advertisements can be received in two or more desired addresses.
Moreover, an object is for a client to only perform a simple operation with a client terminal apparatus so that desired advertisement information and attached files can quickly be registered as an object capable of being supplied to a user at any time for 24 hours. As a further object, mail addresses of users who have predetermined tastes can be collected, and direct mails can automatically be transmitted to the user.